Rafael Correa

LONDON (Reuters) - Germany, Spain and France have expressed interest in a pioneering Ecuadorean plan not to pump oil from under a tropical forest in return for international compensation, Ecuadorean officials said on Tuesday. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, on a London visit, called for support for the Yasuni initiative, under which Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground as a contribution to countering climate change. In return for not exploiting the oil in the environmentally rich area, the OPEC-member country is looking to other countries to pay it $350 million a year. "We are proposing to the world that ... Read Full Story

Foreign pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer have agreed to accept Ecuador's decision to bypass patents on 2,000 drugs in order to produce them locally or buy cheaper versions elsewhere. "We accept the democratic decision... to legally implement this extraordinary measure," the 14 companies including European and American giants such as Bayer and GSK said through the local pharmaceutical industry association on Wednesday. "No legal right is superior to the requirements of public health, especially in such serious circumstances," the association statement added. Last Friday the South American nation's socialist government led by President Rafael Correa decided to break 2,214 patents, issue "compulsory licenses" to local ... Read Full Story

Foreign pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer agreed Wednesday to accept Ecuador's decision to bypass patents on 2,000 drugs in order to produce them locally or buy cheaper versions elsewhere. "We accept the democratic decision... to legally implement this extraordinary measure," the 14 companies including European and American giants such as Bayer and GSK said through the local pharmaceutical industry association. "No legal right is superior to the requirements of public health, especially in such serious circumstances," the association statement added. Last Friday the South American nation's socialist government led by President Rafael Correa decided to break 2,214 patents, issue "compulsory licenses" to local laboratories and ... Read Full Story

Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study ... Read Full Story

Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study ... Read Full Story